Brothers
by areuevernotgoingtofall4that
Summary: What happened to Mako after the Legend of Korra Series finale? This.


Mako's eyes flickered open, then back to closed as it met a bright light. More tentatively and slowly this time, he tried to open his eyes again. The first sight that met his eyes were his brother's very tired looking ones. Bolin had shadows under his eyes like he hadn't slept a wink in a while.

He was sitting close to Mako's bed and Bolin's eyes seemed lost in the wall across the room, but it was clear that even if Bolin wasn't looking at him at the moment he was clearly watching over him. Why was Bolin watching him sleep? His brain felt like it was stuffed full of flying bison and he couldn't seem to remember anything that would explain the situation.

Suddenly, a purple light bloomed in his mind and it all snapped back together. Kuvira, the spirit tree. The lightning and well, he had been sure he had done for after the blast had hit him….only he was clearly still alive.

"Mako!" Bolin's voice startled him from his thoughts and his brother was looking at him like he had seen a ghost. He wasn't exactly sure why that wasn't the case and well needed to know.

"What happened...I thought...I thought I was," To his surprise, Bolin's narrowed in anger.

"Well, you're not. What you are is stupid." Mako took that in with a blink, not sure exactly what he had done to make Bolin so mad.

"Stupid to face against that spirit tree alone and even more stupid to think I wouldn't come back for you." Oh. That made sense. Bolin had come back for him and brought him here where Korra had probably healed him. Now that he took in the room a little more he recognized it as being part of Air Temple Island. But Bolin didn't seem to be done yelling at him.

"You almost died Mako!" Right, back to that.

"Bolin, you know I had to do-" Mako tried to defend himself,

"I'm not done!" Bolin shouted with more anger than Mako had heard come from him in a long time. "I know you had to stop it, I know that, but you didn't have to do it alone." The anger in his voice was bleeding away to what he suspected it had been covering this whole time. Worry and pain. Bolin had tears in his eyes. Bolin was prone to being overly emotional and showing his emotions on his sleeve but this wasn't like that. This fear, this pain was familiar to him as well. Every time Bolin got hurt, either physically or mentally he felt it as well, even if he didn't always show it so plainly to the world he still felt it.

"I almost lost you Mako and if you think for even a moment that that would be okay you have another thing coming," he finished with only a hint of anger but mostly pain and worry in his voice. It warmed him slightly, this concern, but at the same time he felt a little guilty for worrying his brother. Or at least he did until the next sentence came tumbled out of his brother's mouth.

"I hope you like a Bolin shape imprint on your ass because I'm not leaving you, ever again." Mako spluttered and made unintelligible sounds for a long moment before he managed to speak coherently.

"Bolin, that's not…" but then he sighed and gave up because he knew if it had gone the other way and he had almost lost Bolin he'd do the same. Besides he was too tired to give much of a fight. Instead, he just moved over in the bed and patted the area beside him. Bolin looked doubtful for a moment before Mako patted it even harder.

"You look like you're going to fall over. If you're not going to leave at least get some sleep." Bolin still looked doubtful, probably due to the fact that the two of them hadn't shared a bed in years. "Or you can go to sleep somewhere else," he offered up instead. Honestly, Mako was hoping for that option because the bed wasn't exactly meant for two, especially with Bolin's bulk, but either way, the kid had to get some sleep before he fainted or something.

"I'm not tired," Bolin lied terribly, the gray bags under his eyes shouting a different story. Mako sighed, knowing his brother could be just as stubborn as he was.

"Bo!" he used the stern tone he had when they were kids. The one that Bolin always listened to right away because he knew when Mako used it he was dead serious. But Bolin was an adult now and while he looked more conflicted now, he still stayed where he was.

"It's really soft," Mako said in the same voice he'd use to lie to his brother when they were kids and he'd try to convince him that the dumpster of the night was comfortable. Only, this time, it wasn't actually a lie. The bed he was laying on was really soft and he wanted desperately to close his eyes and sink back into his dreams. He yawned for a long moment but worked on keeping his eyes open. He caught the concern in his brother's eyes which gave him an idea. It was playing a little dirty but sometimes a big brother had to do what a big brother had to do.

"Well I'm not going to sleep till you do," he said with a stubborn tilt of his jaw and managed to wrapped his arms around himself. It might have been stronger if it hadn't been punctuated by a yawn. Bolin's look of concerned increased even more and he could practically see his resolve wavering. Mako yawned again, not even having to fake it, he was still really tired. Bolin sighed and Mako knew that he was going to give in. Bolin crawled into the space that Mako had created for him. Mako was right, it was a tight fit. Certainly tighter than the last time that the two of them had shared a bed. Whenever that was. He thought it would be more awkward but maybe he was just too tired to care if he was a little uncomfortable.

"When you die you better be an old man in your sleep or I'm going to get you from the spirit world." Mako smiled as Bolin furrowed himself into the mattress.

"Don't you dare leave me," Bolin threatened but it didn't come out very scary in his half-asleep voice.

"Don't worry Bo'. I won't."

* * *

"It looks like we're going to need another bed in here," Tenzin said fondly and slightly amused as he looked down at the two young men. He and Pema had come to check on the two of them. Rather than finding the two of them how he had left them: Bolin in a chair staring at the wall and Mako lying in bed, he found the two of together somehow squished onto one twin mattress. Tenzin wasn't sure how they both fit on there comfortably enough for the two of them to sleep but somehow they did.

He had only met them four years ago but already they were as much as the family as Korra was. When he heard about Mako he had been worried, but quickly became more worried for Bolin as Korra healed Mako, but Bolin refused to sleep until he talked to Mako.

Even though it wasn't always as obvious as it was now, especially when the two were arguing, the two clearly had a strong bond. The two of them were both strong and strong willed, if sometimes a bit rash but fiercely protective especially of Korra, Asami and anyone that they had grown close to. The two young men who despite having a great deal of tragedy in their lives and a rough upbringing were always willing to go against whatever evil there was with Korra when she needed their help. But in reality, were still both kids underneath and brothers and they both seemed to take that to heart, even if most of the time it wasn't so obvious.

"It looks like we will," Pema the only other conscious person responded with the soft warm wrapped an arm around his wife as they looked down at the two brothers.


End file.
